Korean Job Discussion Forums

goatlord · Joined: 14 Aug 2009

So I've signed my contract, bought my ticket and am on my way to Korea next month to teach in Busan. Nice. But now I've just been informed by the school I'm teaching at that I will have to contribute to the rent at my designated accomodation due to the fact that "price of apartments are increasing in this town lately" (direct quote). Its not a great deal, around 50,000 won that I'd half to fork out, but I've half a mind to send them an email stating that this goes against the 'accommodation provided' detail in the lure of the advertised job. Would this work against me? Even if i put it in my nicest, least confrontational approach, stating that this does not bode well to working together for a year if promises are being made and then suddenly broken or changed, is this the sort of thing that can make them just cancel a contract? And has anyone had any similar experiences?

All thoughts, ideas and comments greatly appreciated!

JD_Tiberius · Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Location: Korea

Intuitively it sounds like a red flag. Go with your gut feeling, and thats usually always right.

PigeonFart · Joined: 27 Apr 2006

WadRUG'naDoo · Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Location: Shanghai

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:10 am Post subject:

I would not turn down a job if that was the only issue.

It may boil down to 25 000W per month.

Also OP, just so you know, 'accomodation provided' still means you have to pay the utilities on the appartment (phone, part of heating cost...).

Troglodyte · Joined: 06 Dec 2009

That is really weird that they'd ask him to pay 50,000 Won. It's not much. If the rent increased 200,000 Won, I could see them squirming. But 50K? How hard up is the school that they're asking the teacher (who hasn't even arrived yet) to chip in 50K a month towards rent?

OP, just so that you know, you're utilities will cost way more than that much, so if the school is reputable and it's just some weird thing that they've done, you might as well just pay it.

A more important question is this - what does your contract say about accommodation? If it's provided, then you shouldn't have to pay any of the rent - just the utilities (water, electricity, gas, building fee, cable, net, etc.)

Who paid for your ticket? Do you already have a visa? Is this your first time in Korea? The information in your original post seems a bit off, so I'm wondering if you might have also been suckered into something more than just 50K a month for rent.

Since you already have a plane ticket (and i presume a visa), if I were you, I'd just come and see how it is in person. It's definitely a red flag though.